Research on Covid-19

We report an excellent realization of the highly nonclassical incommensurate spin-density wave (SDW) state in the quantum frustrated antiferromagnetic insulator Cs₂CoBr₄. In contrast to the well-known Ising spin chain case, here the SDW is stabilized by virtue of competing planar in-chain anisotropies and frustrated interchain exchange.

The fuel used for nuclear energy production is normally enclosed in zirconium-based cladding tubes that constitute the first barrier between the radioactive material and the environment. In water-moderated reactors, cladding tubes tend to corrode, generating hydrogen as side product. The study of the hydrogen embrittlement in zirconium alloys is of high relevance for the industry.

Depending on temperature, local hydrogen concentration, and local stress conditions, different hydrogen-induced embrittlement mechanisms can be active in the cladding material: in certain conditions hydrogen in solid solution might cause material softening through a mechanism known as hydrogen enhanced localized plasticity (HELP).

With the goal of determining the conditions necessary to activate the HELP effect in zirconium alloys, samples have been evaluated by different micro-mechanical and macro-mechanical techniques. Results highlight the importance of the interplay between solid solution hydrogen and hydrides on the hardness and yield point of the tested materials.

The van-der-Waals material CrSBr stands out as a promising two-dimensional magnet. Here, we report on its detailed magnetic and structural character- istics. We evidence that it undergoes a transition to an A-type anti- ferromagnetic state below T_N ≈ 140 K with a pronounced two-dimensional character, preceded by ferromagnetic correlations within the monolayers. Furthermore, we unravel the low-temperature hidden-order within the long- range magnetically-ordered state. We find that it is associated to a slowing down of the magnetic fluctuations, accompanied by a continuous reorienta- tion of the internal field.

How are the first olefins formed in the early stages of the methanol-to-olefins process? Detection of two reactive ketene species solves this long-standing puzzle.

The conversion of solar light into hydrogen by photoelectrochemical water splitting is one of the potential strategies that can allow the development of a carbon-neutral energy cycle. Oxynitride semiconductors are promising materials for this application, although important limitations must still to be addressed. One of the most important issues is physicochemical degradation of the semiconductor, at the interface with water, where the electrochemical reactions occur. In this regard, thin films, with well-defined and atomically flat surfaces, are invaluable tools for characterizing material properties and degradation mechanisms, while identifying strategies to mitigate detrimental effects. Thin oxynitride films may allow the use of complementary characterizations, not applicable to conventional powder samples. In particular, the study of the solid–liquid interface can benefit enormously from the use of thin films for synchrotron-based surface-sensitive X-Ray scattering methods and neutron reflectometry. These investigation approaches promise to speed up the design and discovery of new materials for the production of solar fuels, while paving the way for similar applications in other research fields. This work aims at reviewing the literature contributions on oxynitride thin films for solar water splitting summarizing what is learnt so far and suggesting experimental strategies to unveil what is still not clear.

We present a novel monitoring strategy for 3D print processes that consists of developing and training a hybrid machine learning model that can classify regimes across different time scales based on heterogeneous sensing data. 

Topological magnon insulators constitute a growing field of research for their potential use as information carriers without heat dissipation. We report an experimental and theoretical study of the magnetic ground-state and excitations in the van der Waals two-dimensional honeycomb magnet ErBr₃. We show that the magnetic properties of this compound are entirely governed by the dipolar interactions which generate a continuously degenerate non-collinear ground-state on the honeycomb lattice with spins confined in the plane.

Orthoferrites are a class of magnetic materials with a magnetic ordering temperature above 600 K, predominant G-type antiferromagnetic ordering of the Fe-spin system and, depending on the rare-earth ion, a spin reorientation of the Fe spin taking place at lower temperatures. DyFeO3 is of particular interest since the spin reorientation is classified as a Morin transition with the transition temperature depending strongly on the Dy-Fe interaction. Here, we report a detailed study of the magnetic and structural properties of microcrystalline DyFeO3 powder and bulk single crystal using neutron diffraction and magnetometry between 1.5 and 450 K. We find that, while the magnetic properties of the single crystal are largely as expected, the powder shows strongly modified magnetic properties, including a modified spin reorientation and a smaller Dy-Fe interaction energy of the order of 10 μeV. Subtle structural differences between powder and single crystal show that they belong to distinct magnetic space groups. In addition, the Dy ordering at 2 K in the powder is incommensurate, with a modulation vector of 0.0173(5) c∗, corresponding to a periodicity of ∼58 unit cells.